Missing Mark Gordon and Constance Marten are believed to have been camping in the Sussex countryside with their newborn
(Picture: PA Media)The estranged father of an aristocrat missing with her newborn urged police to investigate a Nigerian cult following claims she was “brainwashed”.
Film and music producer Napier Marten, a former page to the late Queen, called on officers to look into the Synagogue Church of All Nations in Lagos, where she lived for six months under TB Joshua, a pastor he believes to be a “phoney prophet”.
Constance Marten, 35, has been living off-grid since fleeing on January 5 with the day-old baby and partner Mark Gordon, 48, who served 20 years in a US jail for rape and battery.
Police believe they have been camping out near Newhaven in the Sussex countryside.
Mr Marten, 63, who has previously appealed for his daughter’s safe return, told the Independent: “I remain deeply concerned for Constance, some five weeks after she and her baby went on the run. I just want them to be safe. I urge Constance, once more, to find the courage to turn herself in to the police.”
He spoke of his “long-held suspicions” about the church where a former member claims Ms Marten was forced to eat Joshua’s leftovers and other “disciples” slept in rooms with the lights on.
After returning, Mr Marten added his daughter spoke about experiencing paranormal activity which became “quite scary”.
She was allegedly left confused and traumatised and spent time “trying to get her head around what happened” in Lagos.
Mr Marten said: “The stories of the abuse meted out by Joshua are shocking and heart-rending. I sincerely hope the police can now investigate potential links between any institution involved in making Constance and others suffer at the hands of the phoney prophet in his Lagos Synagogue.
“These experiences appear to have been a trigger in so much of what has happened to harm Constance in recent years, setting up a pattern of behaviour exposing her to easy manipulation.”
Scotland Yard are offering a £10,000 reward for any information that leads to the family being found.
Gordon’s conviction relates to a Florida attack on a woman in her early 20s when he was 14.
Police have issued a series of appeals after the couple’s car burst into flames on the M61 near Bolton on January 5 as they travelled to Liverpool, Harwich in Essex and Colchester. There were caught on CCTV in the Brick Lane area of Whitechapel, east London.
Ms Marten grew up in Crichel House, a Dorset estate and her grandmother was a playmate of Princess Margaret.
She was a promising drama student until she met Gordon in 2016. Since then the couple have led an isolated life cut off from family and friends.
From around September last year they began living in a series of Airbnbs around the country on short lets and amassed a significant about of cash to enable them to live off-grid and avoid the attention of the authorities.
Earlier this month Detective Superintendent Lewis Basford, of the Met’s East Area Command, addressing the couple directly said: “Constance and Mark, your baby has spent the first month of its short life exposed to the elements when it should be safe and warm and, most importantly, seen by medics.
“After a month you must be running low on cash. Please pick up the phone and let us know, at the very least, that you are okay.”
